What we know about Trump’s tariff stimulus checks: “A dividend of at least $2000 a person”
In an attempt to justify tariffs, President Trump has claimed that Americans will soon get cash sums from the revenue raised.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, tariffs have become a hotly-contested topic and centerpiece of U.S. economic policy.
Although the tariffs are usually paid by the importing company, ultimately it is the consumers who pay for the increase through higher prices. On Sunday, in an attempt to justify the tariffs, President Trump has promised a dividend worth $2,000 per person from the revenue raised.
Writing on his social media account, Truth Social, Trump claimed that the tariffs have brought “trillions of dollars” to the United States.
Who will be eligible the $2,000 payments?
In his post, Trump claims that “every person” will be eligible for the $2,000 payment, except for those with “high incomes”. However it’s not clear how Trump could sanction payments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
Such a plan would almost certainly require congressional approval, as was the case with the stimulus check payments that were sent out during and in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic. At the time such payments were needed to support households plunged into economic hardship by the shutdowns, and to help ‘reboot’ the economy subsequently.
However this time around there is no obvious need to provide a huge cash influx, and little evidence that it would make sense as a policy. September’s report from the Treasury Department suggests that $195 billion in customs duties were taken in during the first three quarters of 2025. However The Guardian estimates that the payments would cost at least $300 billion, immediately cancelling out more than an entire year of tariff income.
Fake news? What happened to the DOGE payments?
It seems unlikely that Trump would be able to action such an ambitious plan and even less likely that it would have the desired effect on the American economy.
Bessent: The $2,000 divided could come in in lots of forms. It could be just the tax decreases
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) November 9, 2025
Translation: You’re never getting those $2,000 checks.
pic.twitter.com/JjjOzcpXzF
The president and his administration promised relief checks before, but the famous DOGE checks for $5,000 never arrived or got lost in the mail. As we can see in the interview above with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, we probably shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for Trump’s tariff relief checks.
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